Article Abstracts, pt.3

Virtually all of my articles relate to privacy issues in archives, as that is a major research interest of mine. A concern in archives for some time has been "third-party" donations--correspondence and other documents that were in the possession of the donating party, but not originated by them. As technology advances, archives go online, and collections are frequently made available while the subjects are still living, the debate has become even more heated and pressing.

Gaudette, Marybeth. "Playing Fair with the Right to Privacy." Archival Issues. 28.1 (2003-2004):
21-34. Print.
Gaudette does not take prisoners in her examination and condemnation of current archival privacy standards. She finds the state of things unbearably inadequate, making the point that no two archivists will always come to the same conclusions, and current codes of ethics do little more than tell the archivist to use their best judgement. She desires a universal, legally-enforceable standard that completely removes personal (situational) judgment. Taking to task those who have written articles championing the archivist's right and ability to make informed situational judgments, she sees only (unwitting) abuses of power in many examples. While perhaps a bit too unyielding in her presentation, the overall message Gaudette sends is simply that a complete lack of regulations is not a defensible standard to operate by.

Hodson, Sara S. "In Secret Kept, in Silence Sealed: Privacy in the Papers of Authors and Celebrities." American Archivist. 67.2 (Fall/Winter 2004): 194-211. Print. Retrieved from JSTOR.
A return to Hodson brings this article which addresses the collections of living people of public interest. There is significant chance that these materials will contain potentially embarrassing information not just about the subject, but the people they have interacted with. The subject may not be aware the information is there, not realize that others might find it sensitive, or simply may not understand that the material might become public while they are still living. At the same time, modern society is conditioned to expect the revelation of every intimate detail about those in the public eye. There are no easy answers to dealing with situations of this nature, although Hodson valiantly attempts to address the problem and provide some suggested operating guidelines.

Benedict, Karen. "Archival Ethics." Managing Archives and Archival Institutions. Ed. James Gregory Bradsher. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988. 174-184. Print.
Tracing the development of various codes of ethics that archival organizations follow and clarifies the reasons they must exist. The archivist walks a precarious and undefined path between the privacy concerns of the donors and patrons, and the desires of those the archive serves to have unfettered access to as much information as possible. While most codes leave a great deal of room for the archivist to make decisions regarding privacy, the overarching concern is to prevent any malicious harm and minimize potential problems.